AL vs NL

[broncosmitty]

I don't recall all the details but if the union had been as strong as you imply, both leagues would have had it at the time. The AL at the time was clearly an inferior product. Had the NL seen the same need, no telling what would have happened. Attendance in the AL was way off as a result of a boring game.

The other impetus for the DH came after the dominant 1960s for pitchers when practically nobody in the AL could even manage a .300 average.

As an NL fan, I am accustomed to not seeing the DH most of the time but I don't abhor its use. I think the bitching about it is based on some crapped-up jargon and Xeroxed complaints that no longer apply.

Hell yes, there is more dugout strategy with the pitcher hitting. Nothing like getting 2 on, 2 out, the No. 8 hitter coming up ... and in the AL, you have to pitch smart to this guy. In the NL, you just walk him and try to get the pitcher out. Meanwhile, NL managers look down the bench to see if they have one of those aging sluggers to use as a PH, knowing they have to find a relief pitcher who might be a big-leaguer, might just be pretending to be one. (I cite the Reds as prime meat, oddly, since the DH could really help that operation.)

I think AL strategy, while different, is still pretty apparent of various lineup options that NL managers don't have available to them, especially in the 7-8-9-1 slots. The best the NL can do is let the pitcher bat in the 8 hole, ahead of some guy whose OBP is about the same as his weight.

(This is a zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz reply. sorry)

Not a boring post at all. I hadn't heard most of that before.

Did a little digging, and '72 was the lowest AL attendance in nearly a decade. Also the last time either league dipped below 1mil in average attendance per team for the season.

The AL had won 3/5 and 4/7 World Series leading up to the DH in 73. But the NL was drawing significantly more at the gate. Roughly 30%.

(Your Reds have gone the longest of any club without a season attendance record, 1976. The Royals were next with 88. Unless they topped that during their recent run, figures only went to 2014. Blue Jays of 93, still the best draw ever.)

 

[soxfan1468927]

Not a boring post at all. I hadn't heard most of that before.

Did a little digging, and '72 was the lowest AL attendance in nearly a decade. Also the last time either league dipped below 1mil in average attendance per team for the season.

The AL had won 3/5 and 4/7 World Series leading up to the DH in 73. But the NL was drawing significantly more at the gate. Roughly 30%.

(Your Reds have gone the longest of any club without a season attendance record, 1976. The Royals were next with 88. Unless they topped that during their recent run, figures only went to 2014. Blue Jays of 93, still the best draw ever.)

Based on what?

 

[JohnU]

(Your Reds have gone the longest of any club without a season attendance record, 1976. The Royals were next with 88. Unless they topped that during their recent run, figures only went to 2014. Blue Jays of 93, still the best draw ever.)

It will be an extremely cold day in Hell when the Reds set another attendance record. It was always a tough draw there because the population base/fan base is very scattered and,without a dome, there are just nights when driving 3 hours to watch mediocre-to-bad baseball isn't worth the time/resources. Even if they decide to start winning, the window is narrow. As that ballpark ages, the attendance won't get better.

Downtown Cincy is, however, a very worthwhile trip.

 

[broncosmitty]

It will be an extremely cold day in Hell when the Reds set another attendance record. It was always a tough draw there because the population base/fan base is very scattered and,without a dome, there are just nights when driving 3 hours to watch mediocre-to-bad baseball isn't worth the time/resources. Even if they decide to start winning, the window is narrow. As that ballpark ages, the attendance won't get better.

Downtown Cincy is, however, a very worthwhile trip.

I love going to games down there. That was the first place I ever took the lil lady to a game. Giants were in town, fuggin Dusty gave Bonds the day off. Lol.

But I usually stay in Covington. I'm from Michigan, it hurts to even admit I like being in Ohia. Lol

 

[broncosmitty]

Based on what?

Tickets

 

[soxfan1468927]

Tickets

Overall attendance? Because they don't have the record

 

[JohnU]

But I usually stay in Covington. I'm from Michigan, it hurts to even admit I like being in Ohia. Lol

I live in Indiana, my fiance lives in Dowagiac, MI, and I can't stand people from Ohio.

 

[broncosmitty]

I live in Indiana, my fiance lives in Dowagiac, MI, and I can't stand people from Ohio.

I used to have a roommate from Dowagiac.


Grape growing kid.

 

[JohnU]

Overall attendance? Because they don't have the record

Overall attendance? Because they don't have the record

I tend to rely on memory more with this stuff than stats, because I enjoy being challenged. In any event, I do believe that prior to interleague, the NL counted only people who were in the park and the AL counted a ticket sold as attendance. I don't know how much that affected overall numbers. They both count tickets sold now, which accounts for the 32,088 at the ballpark on nights you can see 28,999 empty seats.

 

[broncosmitty]

Overall attendance? Because they don't have the record

Ha. I guess I just stopped scrolling.

 

[JohnU]

I used to have a roommate from Dowagiac.

Dwaj is about 90 minutes from where I live. it's an OK little town with almost nothing interesting. There are some nice wineries in Paw Paw, I think. Anyway, that's not about baseball much. I think it's odd that most people in that part of Michigan are Cubs fans.

 

[broncosmitty]

Dwaj is about 90 minutes from where I live. it's an OK little town with almost nothing interesting. There are some nice wineries in Paw Paw, I think. Anyway, that's not about baseball much. I think it's odd that most people in that part of Michigan are Cubs fans.

Paw Paw is about the cutoff of Tigers-Cubs. A lot of Cubs fans still as you head east to Kzoo, and a lot of Tigers fans as you head west to Chicago. But Kalamazoo is actually the halfway point between the two. It's worse with football, as Bears and Packers fans both have infected Van Burren County.

I like PawPaw. Used to coach football there.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

The largest sample that we can look at in any given year to determine which is better, the AL or NL, is the combined results of interleague play.

The NL hasn't had a winning season against the AL since 2003.

 

[broncosmitty]

The largest sample that we can look at in any given year to determine which is better, the AL or NL, is the combined results of interleague play.

The NL hasn't had a winning season against the AL since 2003.

Can we decide who is the best team based off the same sample?

 

[JohnU]

... Kalamazoo is actually the halfway point between the two. It's worse with football, as Bears and Packers fans both have infected Van Burren County.

Very nice air museum in K-Zoo. Well worth the trip. I think the Lions caused some of their own problems with having bad teams ... and I think that Silverdome was a piece of dung for a stadium.

 

[JohnU]

Can we decide who is the best team based off the same sample?

Best TEAM since the turn of the century?

Most of that has probably happened in the last 7 or 8 years, which would strongly favor the Cardinals and Giants. Clearly the 2001 Mariners are in any conversation, regardless of overall outcomes.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Can we decide who is the best team based off the same sample?

three hundred games? Sure, I suppose that'd be a pretty damn good sample.

 

[broncosmitty]

three hundred games? Sure, I suppose that'd be a pretty damn good sample.

Cool.

Cuz I'm tired of losing interleague games in October that count more.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Cool.

Cuz I'm tired of losing interleague games in October that count more.

You totally lost me here.

 

[broncosmitty]

Very nice air museum in K-Zoo. Well worth the trip. I think the Lions caused some of their own problems with having bad teams ... and I think that Silverdome was a piece of dung for a stadium.

I did some work for the lady that founded the AirZoo. Her Pink Warhawk hangs in the rafters there. Suzie Parish, nice old lady. She's gone now. They used to have a Smithsonian Day, where entry was free. Don't know if that still happens.

Detroit can't be that endearing to would be fans. Other than Barry I think look cal broadcasts are the main reason people are fans.